Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T00:21:07.053Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Performance of British Landrace pigs selected for high and low incidence of halothane sensitivity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

S. P. Simpson ,
A. J. Webb  and
I. Wilmut
S. P. Simpson
Affiliation:
AFRC Animal Breeding Research Organisation, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
A. J. Webb
Affiliation:
AFRC Animal Breeding Research Organisation, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
I. Wilmut
Affiliation:
AFRC Animal Breeding Research Organisation, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
Get access

Abstract

Halothane positive and negative selection lines were established to estimate the effects of the halothane gene on performance in British Landrace pigs. Incidences of positive reaction diverged from 0·12 in the foundation generation to 0·93 in the positive and to 0·02 in the negative line in generation 4. Differences in litter productivity as a trait of the dam were estimated from a total of 399 positive × positive and negative × negative parity 1 and 2 matings in generations 1 to 4.

Compared with negative contemporaries, positive females showed non-significant reductions in litter size at birth (−0·10, s.e. 0·26) and at 42 days (−0·28, s.e. 0·26), accompanied by significant reductions in average piglet weights at birth (−0·11, s.e. 0·02 kg) and 42 days (−0·4, s.e. 0·2 kg). There were no differences in conception rate or adult live weights. A subsample of 69 parity 2 and 3 sows slaughtered 30 days after mating showed no significant difference in ovulation rate or embryo survival, but for positive dams the length of embryos was significantly reduced (−3·1, s.e. 1·1 mm).

The study suggests that the principal effect of the halothane gene was in reducing foetal growth rather than litter size. However, the phenotypic difference is expected to under-estimate the genetic difference between homozygotes, and it was not possible to distinguish the effects of dam and offspring genotypes. The present economic loss of roughly £4·70 per positive litter would be unlikely to justify elimination of the gene from a purebred maternal Landrace herd.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , December 1986 , pp. 485 - 492
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Botstein, D., White, R. L., Skolnick, M. and Davis, R. W. 1980. Construction of a genetic linkage map in man using restriction fragment length polymorphisms. American Journal of Human Genetics 32: 314–331.Google ScholarPubMed
Carden, A. E., Hill, W. G. and Webb, A. J. 1983. The inheritance of halothane susceptibility in pigs. Genetique, Selection et Evolution 15: 65–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carden, A. E., Hill, W. G. and Webb, A. J. 1985. The effects of halothane susceptibility on some economically important traits in pigs. 1. Litter productivity. Animal Production 40: 351–358.Google Scholar
Carden, A. E. and Webb, A. J. 1984. The effect of age in halothane susceptibility in pigs. Animal Production 38: 469–475.Google Scholar
Dantzer, R. and Mormede, P. 1978. Behavioural and pituitary-adrenal characteristics of pigs differing by their susceptibility to the malignant hyperthermia syndrome induced by halothane anaesthesia. 1. Behavioural measures. Annales de Recherches Veterinaires 9: 559–567.Google Scholar
Harvey, W. R. 1977. User's guide for LSML76. Mixed model least-squares and maximum likelihood computer program. Ohio State University, Columbus. (Mimeograph).Google Scholar
Hill, W. G. 1980. Design of quantitative genetic selection experiments. In Selection Experiments in Laboratory and Domestic Animals (ed. Robertson, A.), pp. 1–13. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar
Hill, W. G. and Webb, A. J. 1982. Genetics of reproduction in the pig. In Control of Pig Reproduction (ed. Cole, D. J. A. and Foxcroft, G. R.), pp. 541–564. Butterworths, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imlah, P. 1982. Linkage studies between the halothane (Hat), phosphohexose isomerase (Phi) and the S(A–0) and H red blood cell loci of Pietrain/Hampshire and Landrace pigs. Animal Blood Groups and Biochemical Genetics 13: 245–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imlah, P. 1984. Blood group association with severity and speed of the halothane reaction. Animal Blood Groups and Biochemical Genetics 15: 275–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Juneja, R. K., Gahne, B., Edfors-LIUA, I. and Andresen, E. 1983. Genetic variation at a pig serum protein locus, Po–2, and its assignment to the Phi, Hal, S, H and Pgd linkage group. Animal Blood Groups and Biochemical Genetics 14: 27–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, G., Smith, C., Makower, M. and Bird, P. J. W. N. 1982. An economic appraisal of pig improvement in Great Britain. 1. Genetic and production aspects. Animal Production 35: 215–224.Google Scholar
Schneider, A., Schworer, D. and Blum, J. 1980. [Effect of halothane genotype on production and reproduction traits in Swiss Landrace.] Proceedings of 31st Annual Meeting of the European Association of Animal Production, Munich, Paper GP3.9.Google Scholar
Storey, E. A. 1983. Genetics of reaction time to halothane exposure in pigs. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Webb, A. J. 1980. The incidence of halothane sensitivity in British pigs. Animal Production 31: 101–105.Google Scholar
Webb, A. J., Carden, A. E., Smith, C. and Imlah, P. 1982. Porcine stress syndrome in pig breeding. Proceeding of 2nd World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, Madrid, Vol. 5, pp. 588–608. Editorial Garsi, Madrid.Google Scholar
Webb, A. J. and Jordan, C. H. C. 1978. Halothane sensitivity as a field test for stress-susceptibility in the pig. Animal Production 26: 157–168.Google Scholar
Webb, A. J. and Simpson, S. P. 1986. Performance of British Landrace pigs selected for high and low incidence of halothane sensitivity. 2. Growth and carcass traits. Animal Production 43: 493–503.Google Scholar